Rise of the Empire: The Polman Chronicles
by The Illusive Mann
Summary: One and a half years after the fall of the Republic, Jedi on the run/mercenary for hire, Leon Polman tries to survive in the cutthroat spaceports and metropolises of the newly formed galactic empire. Over a short period of time he has slowly lost his old self in the process of this change. Can he find help? Will he live? Or will he succumb to his desires? Rated T for now.
1. In a galaxy far far away

Disclaimer: I do not own any Star Wars characters. I did however create Leon as an OC as well as the rest of his family. Just saying.

* * *

In the beginning all that I knew was freedom and in the end, all that existed was the empire. My name is Leon Polman and this is my story...

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away...

I lived in peace with my family on Mandalore for years.

Although I was not born on Mandalore, I was born on Naboo.

There I found a wonderful life with my parents. my father who was a pilot

He was one of the few that defeated the separatists when they blockaded us

and was awarded a medal with many others who fought bravely for our freedom

During the years of the Republic's war with the Separatists,

My parents sent me to stay with relatives on Coruscant, where my life would change forever.

As the years passed by I had heard that Mandalore had been taken over by madmen and

my parents had died trying to fight back. My aunt and uncle who had taken care of me

since then and sent me to the Jedi academy because of my attitude and because my

cousin had joined to fight in the war. There I trained

In the ways of the Jedi and learned how to channel the force and fight. What I really

wanted to do was fight the separatists like Master Skywalker and his padawan did.

Oh his padawan, Ahsoka Tano was a sight to behold. Though I was taught to not form any

attachments in any way, shape, or form, Ahsoka was something that was hard to resist

At any moment when she returned from a campaign with her master I tried to speak

with her, but my inner shyness shattered that effort every single time. For years I

had tried to speak, but it all failed. That day when she was accused of sedition against

the order and the republic was when things started occurring to me. This was made

apparent more so when Bariss gave her testimony. From the teachings that I was taught

on a daily basis, to the news that I was hearing; I realized that the Jedi order was not the

same. It had just shaped itself into the spear that the republic needed, and shape it did.

Then when Ahsoka left, my heart had been broken.

I had thoughts of suicide and told of my anguish to my teachers, and all but one shunned

me, so I decided to follow a path of my own.

I didn't even tell the one who I was afraid to approach, Master Yoda that I was leaving.

Master Yoda was the one that sympathized with me and actually gave me the idea to

leave the order, though he did not do it intentionally.

I packed my things and went to the library where I stocked up on data that I had copied

and saved for future purposes. Then I left. What happened two hours later though would

destroy the order, and it would be by the hands of the Jedi that they had considered the

one.

After running from the temple I went back to my aunt and uncle's apartment and

ransacked their private safe. It sounded like a scummy thing to do, but when you hear

that all Jedi were to be exterminated all around the city, you too would take what would

be necessary and flee persecution. Their money became very useful, being that they

owned stock in various companies that funded the war effort with weapons.

So after fleeing from there I had used a small portion of the six-hundred million credits

that they had stored away and used it to buy a ship for myself, though it was large and

clunky. I also managed to buy an astromech droid, a fully functioning AI suite for my ship,

food and medical supplies, and some not-so-legal weapons and armor that were not very

cheap at all. After that I fled from coruscant, learning that my aunt and uncle had been

arrested for supposedly harboring a Jedi. Days later when I docked at Mos Eisley I had

found out that they both died in each other's arms as a firing squad cut them down.

My cousin Faray had run away from the authorities and was nowhere to be found. The

universe that surrounded me felt like a crushing weight, but the lessons in the holocrons

that I had copied kept my chin up, as well as the holographic picture that I had of me and

my parents.

There were times that I wished that things would go back to the ways that

they were, but now i'm just stuck on whatever port I can afford to get to next. I relied on

paychecks that I would get from the mercenary work that I did. Of course it was mostly

non-lethal stuff that I did, but it didn't get me paid. The problem being that people paid

you more for killing than observing the way of the Jedi. In the matter of the fact I slowly

started slipping from those ways. At some of the more city based spaceports I would

drown myself in the local bars and brothels that were at each place.

One and a half years after living like this I thought that I would have died from all the

twi'leks and other females of the galaxy that I had invited onto the ship or from the

nights where I had too much to drink and somehow made it to my ship. My life had gone

from train wreck to just sleeping in the gutters of the galaxy, but as master Yoda told me

before, "Shrouded is your future. Anxious you must not be."

For sure if he saw me then, he would probably think that his words fell on deaf ears, but

believe it or not they didn't. Things changed for me one day when I went back to Mos

Eisley, and thats where my journey started.

* * *

Ok, so here is the start to something new. I'm going to test the waters of the Star Wars universe and if it doesn't work, then forget about this whole thing. Otherwise, this is the beginning of something really cool.

By the way, if you have not seen season 6 of Star Wars the Clone Wars, you must see it. It is what inspired me to write this fanfic as well as Ahsoka's fate in season 5. I really do hope that I can expand on what I have typed here.


	2. Obediah

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everybody but here is chapter two.**

* * *

Mos Eisley was one of the dirtiest places in the galaxy, and i'm not even talking about the sand. This place was crawling with Jabba's thugs and other scum of the galaxy that needed a place to stay. Even though it was such a dump I decided to stay there for the day, just looking for work. This dump of a spaceport may be a trash heap to the eyes but there were plenty of angry souls here that needed their past erased. For instance the humans next to me had once worked for Jabba and were now on the run.

I was just about to see if I could do anything when a hand reached out to me and sat me down. Out of nowhere a group of stormtroopers, as they called themselves now, and an officer had surrounded me and pushed me back into my booth. I was almost tempted to pull out my lightsaber, but the blaster resting on my side told me to sit down and shut up.

"Hello there mister Polman," the officer said in a snooty tone, "we have been looking everywhere or you."

"Well I guess that your search is over officer." I fired back.

The officer snapped his fingers, still facing me, and ordered one of the troopers to hand me something. The soldier did as he said and tossed it at me. It was a holopad with a wanted ad on it, but it wasn't like anything that you would find around here. I was just handed something that most bounty hunters would probably never see. It was a notice from the office of the imperial inquisitor asking me to hunt down a Jedi by the name of Obediah Nuntoo.

"What would I gain from hunting down another Jedi?" I asked the officer.

"It is simple. If you can bring Obediah back to me alive, then you shall be granted a full pardon from the empire and given asylum on a world of your choosing."

It all sounded wonderful. I could turn in a fellow Jedi and in return I would get away scot free. A perfect plan it may have been to anyone else, but to me I could be turning in the future of the Jedi. I really wanted to think about this before anything went further, but the blaster in my side was starting to make a mark so I made an immediate decision, something rash.

"Fine, I will do it."

"Good, good" he elatedly repeated, "his last stop was at Cloud City if you know where that is."

"I do."

"Fantastic! Now just to be clear, if you are caught aiding Nuntoo in any way, shape, or form, then the deal is off and the gloves are off. In other words you both will be enemies of the empire, understand?"

"I understand. I step out of line and you will kill me."

"Mister Polman i'm glad that we could come to a mutual agreement. Good hunting." With that the officer tipped his hat and moved out with the troopers that were with him.

Thank the force. In my short time outside of the order I had never had any run ins with the empire and I was well enough off the radar to where they could not track me, or so I thought. Now I am going to have to hunt down a fellow Jedi, something that I had never done before.

"I guess I need to find out who this guy is"

* * *

(**Back at the Dondervak...**)

Obediah Nuntoo, a Miralukan Jedi that left the order two years before I did. The reason behind him leaving were his ideas about the Jedi order, which he thought was war-mongering and strayed away from it's teachings of peace. Another thing to add was that he was Miralukan, a rarity amongst the galactic populace.

You see, Miralukans are all born with the nerves where their eyes would be, but do not have eyes themselves. They are basically blind as we know it from birth to the grave and yet they can see. They use the force unlike any Jedi that I have ever heard of. Through the force they are able to see the world around them and not in the sense that we acknowledge sight.

So when I do have to face this guy I really need to watch myself because his connection to the force is probably stronger than mine.

* * *

(**Cloud City two days later...**)

What a wonderful place this was compared to the desert death-trap that Mos Eisely was. This place was definitely cleaner. Little droids sped around me sweeping the marble floors and pretty much everywhere else I was walking. Yes I had not cleaned my boots from trip to Tatooine, but fashion and cleanliness were never worries of mine.

The people here seemed to be kinder than the souls in Mos Eisley. Almost every person that I passed by said hello and waved at me, except for the little people that were running around with tools. They walked and worked like Jawas so I did not mind them much.

Taking an elevator to some of the lower parts of Cloud City I opened up the holopad with Obediah's profile again just to make sure that I had not passed him yet. My memory, being one of my best traits, did not fail me. Nobody matched Obediah's profile yet, so what I can assume is that he is at the Cloud City Cantina, a patch of dirt amongst these sparkling halls.

Once the doors opened I made my way over and went inside. Thats when I made my first mistake. As soon as I entered the door, some Twi'lek exhaled the content of the deathstick he was sucking on and I inhaled. The next few seconds I went into a small coughing fit, which made the man laugh.

"C'mon kid, never smoked before?" he said taking in another breath.

"No I haven't and I never plan on doing so." I said walking away.

The man left me alone and walked outside. The rest of the bar was all that was left to conquer. This place, compared to the rest of Cloud City was a dump for all of the dregs of society. All of these people looked like travellers, but not the friendly kinds. Every now and then I would look back at the holopad and dodge another customer or waitress. This place was packed to the brim with species that stood feet above me so it would be hard to find this guy. Or would it?

Halfway across the room I could feel the force being focused to a single booth to the right of me, so I tried to blend in with the crowd. Every now and then I would take a few steps closer, changing my cover. One minute I would be looking up news, the next I would be hitting on one of the waitressess passing right by me. In five minutes I had made my way over to the booth that I was targeting and finally pulled the curtains open. Low and behold he was there, and he was out.

I reached across the table to the poke him in the back of the head and he grabbed me.

"And what do you think you are doing?" he said as he finally picked up his head.

"I'm here under the authority of the Empire to bring you to justice."

The older Jedi just sat back and laughed at me. I thought that he shouldn't really be laughing because the Empire is nothing to laugh about. Then he yanked my arm and pulled me into the set right next to him and said,"Son, do you believe that you will get some reward for hunting me down?"

Reluctantly, I nodded my head.

"Well thats a laugh kid, because they wiped out our kind. Let me ask, what makes you think that they won't kill us both when you bring me in? Has that ever crossed your mind?"

"It has and I am willing to risk it, old man."

"Old man? Boy do you know that you are talking to a Jedi master?"

"No, and I don't care. You're coming with me either way."

A sudden shift could be felt in the force and I felt it coming from the front door. Through the reflection in the wall of the booth I could see a squad of stormtroopers come in with another in tow. He or she would have come off as a Jedi, if it wasn't for the black robes and the glowing red eyes.

"What did I tell you kid, they're going to kill us both."

Slowly my hand reached for my lightsaber, but Obediah got to it before I did.

"That lightsaber isn't going to do much against against the guy in the middle and I bet he has more back up than that."

"So what would you have us do oh wise Jedi master?"

"I know the bartender here and she has an emergency exit that goes through the center of this city. Follow me."

* * *

(**Back in the Dondervak**)

I don't even know how we had escaped them but we did. The air system that goes throughout Cloud City oddly enough is more connected than I thought. To understand which vents to take must mean that Obediah had been here for a while, maybe even years.

This Jedi, from what I could understand, was at the temple while I was there, but I don't even remember seeing this guy there. Now as for him being a Jedi master, that would be debatable. To me, I thought that we could have taken on those stormtroopers and the person in the black hood and with him being a Jedi master, they would be a piece of cake. So for right now I have little trust in this blind, older Jedi.

In the cockpit he sat right next to me and leaned back. I guess that all the excitement must have been too much for the old fart to handle.

"Hey kid." he said still laying back in his seat.

"What?" I replied.

"You know that I can hear every one of your thoughts right?"

"No, I didn't and would you please stop!" I yelled.

"Boy, you've got some trust issues, I know that, but you're going to have to trust me in order to find a certain someone."

"Who are you talking about?"

"Ahsoka."

My heart felt like it jumped up into my throat when he said that. Did this mean that she was alive?

"How do you..."

"Leon, I have spent my time away from the order meditating in my apartment, day in and day out. I have seen so many things and so many Jedi that live, even after the purge and it gave me hope. I saw master Shaak-Ti on Felucia, I had a glimpse of master Yoda on some swampy world, Master Obi-Wan lives in secret on Tatooine, a Padawan abandoned by the name of Maris Brood, and then I see Barriss Offee. "Obediah paused for a moment and sighed, "She remains on death row awaiting execution, but the emperor is using her connection to the force to hunt down any stray padawans that may have survived. She is currently in a prison under the surface of Naboo."

"That sleemo almost got Ahsoka killed, so what she is getting now she deserves."

Suddenly a fist went right across the right side of my face and knocked me straight to the ground.

"A Jedi should never think like that, ever!" he yelled at me.

"Well you're not my father, mother, or my master old man, so deal with it."

Obediah scoffed at me and rubbed the place where he hit me. He obviously wasn't the big fighting type that I had expected to find.

"Boy I don't know who your master was, but he or she obviously didn't teach you manners or respect. As long as you are around me kid, you had better get some respect in you, otherwise I'll kick your butt up and down this ship to instill some respect into you."

"Now that is laughable." I said with a huge grin on my face."

"I don't even know how anybody could call you a Jedi kid."

"Well what about you? You disagreed with the order about everything."

"Not really, just on the fact that we turned from the peacekeepers of the galaxy to the war mongers that the emperor wanted us to be. I wanted peace in the order, thats all, but when you disagree with the council itself, you get shut down."

"So thats what happened?"

"Yes, and I regret not being there to somehow change the course of things."

"Obediah, if you were there when the purge happened you would be dead."

"I know, but I would rather be someone that opens the eyes of the public to what is going on, basically a martyr. Now all that we are doing is running."

Reaching towards the console in front of me I switched the ship to auto-pilot so maybe I could have a conversation and actually focus.

"So what about Ahsoka, you didn't mention anything about her."

"Skywalker's apprentice. I saw her in my dreams, but she was in a worse state than Barriss. From her surroundings I can assume that she is on a heavily civilized world, but it is not Corusceant."

"So what do we do from here? Do we look for the survivors?"

The old man leaned back in his seat and pondered for a moment.

"Well, I believe that it would be right to look for them and I think that I know where to start. Set a course for Corusceant kid, we're going to pay an old and trusted friend of mine a visit."

* * *

**A/N: I am just letting people know that I am new to Star Wars fics, but I am trying my best to put this all together.**


	3. Old Faces and a Plot

Coreusceant, the hub of the empire I would say. The whole planet was swarming with Stations were made for incoming ships so the empire could regulate commerce. Of course Obeh, as I was starting to call him, found a route back onto the planet.

Looking out at the scenery made me cringe. When I made my exit I remember leaving a thriving planet that was vibrant with life and all. Now it looked like some of the dictatorships that I had studied when I was in the Jedi academy.

Propaganda lined the buildings. Fear was the central message in all of the imagery on the signs. It made me wonder how people felt now, espcially seeing all of this or if people just looked the other way when they came near it. This made me wish for the times when the war was still going on.

During those times there was a sense of normalcy about the galaxy. We knew who the enemy was and we could trust the government, but since the empire was formed that was all thrown away. If one was to disagree with the empire they would be called seperatists and would be hated by all just for disagreeing. This is why I questioned Obeh's sanity by wanting to come here of all places, but something deep inside told me to just go along with it.

On our way in we were able to bribe a customs officer to not turn us in. It felt like something that you would expect from bounty hunters or assassins, but in order to find this 'friend' of Obeh's we would have to use every trick in the book in order to get the job done.

As soon as we went past the commercial districts and the galactic senate, Obeh pointed me towards one of the various holes that led deep into the depths of Coreusceant. Down there was where you didn't want to go, especially if you were from places higher up from there, because of the people that live down there. These people have been living in poverty even before the Clone Wars began, so there is no telling how they are faring now.

The Dondervak finally touched down on a landing platform that sat in front of a small diner.

Looking at the place I just rubbed my eyes and said, "Is this really the place where we would be meeting this person? I mean I was expecting a warehouse or someplace more secret."

"Son," Obeh replied, "the empire has eyes everywhere, so why not go to the least obvious place? After all, don't you think that meeting at warehouses is cliche?"

"True."

Reaching across the panel in front of me I flipped the switch to unlock the clamps on the ramp leading outside and lowered it. Obeh went out first to see if the area was clear then sent me a signal to come out with him. On the way over to the diner, I pressed a button on my gauntlet to send the Dondervak to a location where nobody would be looking for it.

* * *

(**Inside**)

There wasn't really much of a crowd there. Just a Rodian couple, some odd Chiss sitting in the far back and a droid in the kitchen. Between the few lifeforms that were here I guess that we were here to meet him.

While walking towards him though I could feel something inside me. It was similar to what I felt when I got near Obeh, but it was also different in its own way. So as we both sat down across from him Obeh opened up and said, "So blue boy, what's the scoop?"

The chiss just grinned from under the cover of his wide-brimmed hat and raised it so that he could see us.

"It's been a while Obediah."

"That it has Nuru."

Suddenly a chill went down my spine as a thought clicked in my head. I remember a Nuru from when I was at the temple, but Obediah couldn't mean that Nuru. Besides he didn't even list him as one of the Jedi that he saw in his visions.

"So what brings you here to this little dent in the universe?" he said as he leaned back into the corner that he was in.

"Well, I was just wondering if you were wanting to get out of here and help us free somebody."

The Chiss finally removed his hat and revealed his whole face to us. He looked like he had seen better days, but his face was recognizable. He was Nuru Kungurama, a Jedi padawan that had his own master turn to the dark side of the force and eventually leave the order. The last I heard was that the Clones had killed him on Ryloth, then it was changed to two other places. From then on I just guessed that he had survived everything and was hiding somewhere and here he was sitting in the very capital of the empire.

"Let me guess, you want me to help you free her." he replied.

"Free who?" I interrupted.

Obediah put his hand on my shoulder and cleared his throat. Something that he was about to say was probably something that I didn't want to hear, but once again something was telling me to just go along with it.

"Leon, i've been talking to Nuru with the force since we left Cloud City and we both agree on this. Take it away Nuru."

"Soon we will be going to Naboo, not just because it's lovely around this time of year but also because we heard from a valuable source of the location of a prison there. This prison used to be a separatist bunker that was focused on making chemical weapons, but now it has changed. It now houses Barriss Offee, a former traitor to the order..."

"But a valuable asset now." Obediah finished. "I know that you may hate her for what she made Ahsoka go through, but that has to be thrown out the window, especially now because there are so few of us left. Leon, if we don't start working together then we will all die separately. Together we must restore the order and crush the empire before it gets its hands on the remnants of the order."

"And I understand that." I replied while still thinking about it all. "The only problem that I have is that bringing so many force users together...don't you think that it will attract Darth Vader's attention?"

Just bringing up his name in the diner made the atmosphere itself feel uncomfortable. Nuru ran his hand through his hair and took in a deep breath while Obeh still maintained his composure.

"It could, but that is a risk that we are going to have to take." said Nuru.

"So," I said leaning back in the seat, "when do we begin?"

"Soon" Nuru replied, "But first we must gather together some friends of ours that have been in hiding for a while."

"And who could that be?" I asked.

Obediah pulled a disk out of his pocket and threw it on the table in front of me. Once it stopped sliding it came to life and projected the images of what looked to be scenes from the Clone Wars.

"Those four men right there are part of a commando unit that served the Republic during the war. They were called delta squad before the empire turned them into squad 40. Before the empire was formed, they were sent to Kashyyyk to operate there. It was there where they supposedly lost their sniper codenamed SEV. We somehow managed to find him still there working with the Wookies, except he was then targeting his former comrades."

"This may sound interesting and all, but when am I going to get to say something?" said a familiar voice from the kitchen.

My whole body turned to the window of the kitchen hearing the voice of a clone. I even pulled out my lightsaber and pointed it right at the door leading out.

"Don't worry kid, he won't bite." said Obediah.

The door leading from the kitchen slid open, and out came a clone in red and white armor, a scar leading from the top of his bald head to his right cheek. His armor looked like that of the clones at the beginning of the war, except it had its modifications.

"So you're SEV?" I asked.

The clone nodded and slid onto one of the barstools that lined the other side of the counter that he had been standing behind previously.

"I haven't heard anybody call me by my codename in a while, then again i've been around Wookies for a while now."

"So what made you change?" I said out of the blue.

The war-torn clone switched his gaze to me and said what had been on his mind since his squad abandoned him. "I changed because of order 66. Before the empire I heard of the rumor about a chip that had been implanted in me when I was born. When I head that it was from a clone, that made me want to get it out of my head as fast as I possibly could so I was able to recover a medical droid from one of the Trandoshan depots that we raided and have it removed. This is why I didn't immediately distrust the Jedi when the order went out and thats why I started killing clones."

"And what about the rest of your squad? What if we run into them?"

He paused for a moment and glanced down at his helmet, a depressed look on his face.

"If they become a problem, then they'll be treated like one."

With that he put on his helmet and walked out the front door. Something told me that I had pushed a button too many with those two questions.

"I'm sorry about that." said Nuru as he stood up. "SEV still hasn't forgotten about his squad leaving him on Kashyyyk, even though I told him that they were listening to orders. Let me just tell you that it would be best not to mention them in the future, ok?"

"Ok" I said following him out of the diner.

"Good, now lets get out of here and off of this wretched planet before the authorities find us."

* * *

(**Between Coreusceant and Naboo..**)

It was an uneasy trip thus far. SEV was so quiet that I thought he was an introvert because all that he did was clean his guns and run diagnostics on his armor, thats it. I really wanted to ask him what it was like doing all of the black ops missions and what it was like behind the scenes, but then I remembered his reaction back at the diner so I just stayed where I was in the cockpit.

Nuru was a different story. I couldn't get him to shut up about this girl that we're going to meet on Naboo, and how wonderful she is and when he met her. It was driving me up the wall, but then I thought about his situation. His family was probably dead or imprisoned because he is a Jedi. He can't go home because the empire owns it now, just as they control the rest of the galaxy. I would really feel the same about Ahsoka if she were here with us.

...

My mind drifted off as it often did when I thought about her, which may seem weird. It really did seem to be weird to my friends that I had there too when I talked about her. They just called me a freak because I liked somebody of a different race. Of course I knew that if I was to ever get in a relationship with her that we couldn't have kids, but I asked myself, is that the true purpose of life itself? Are we just to have kids and die or can we love one another in matrimony and live out our lives?

I just wanted me and Ahsoka to be together, but my consoler back at the temple always thought that that was selfish. Of course there were Jedi that thought otherwise. At one time during my stay at the temple I ran into a Jedi master by the name of Rahm Kota. Compared to the other Jedi he was an outcast like me, except his differences were apart from mine. Although he did believe that a Jedi marrying someone was perfectly fine, which I agreed on. He even told me to go after her, but that was the day that Barriss did her damage with the bombs.

...

Barriss

Barriss Offee was the last person in the galaxy that I thought I would get to see again. On the outside I didn't show the hatred that I felt inside. I hated that woman with every fiber of my being after Ahsoka was blamed for her evil and now she was going to aid us in our fight to restore the republic. And here I thought that working for the Hutts five months ago was bad.

* * *

(**Planet Onderon Five months ago...**)

Onderon. During the Clone Wars it was controlled by the separatists, but later liberated itself with the help of the republic. After the war, Lux Bonteri had been stripped of his power when he stood against the emperor in the senate. When he was thrown in prison he was replaced by a politician who's primary focus was to brainwash the entire planet into believing that Lux was a traitor at heart and that the empire was here to serve.

Almost a year after the empire was formed, this man was replaced by General Nasso Myns, an officer that served during the Clone Wars and was extremely loyal to the emperor and Darth Vader. This period in Onderean history would be known as the beginning of the occupation. This is the time when Imperial troops were garrisoned in every major city to ensure that the populace would be compliant, even if it meant marshal law.

My purpose here of all things was to break into one of the most heavily defended prisons on the planet. My objective was to kill a records keeper. This records keeper worked for the Hutts and had knowledge of encryptions necessary to break into the accounts of the criminal empire. This was going to help the empire gain leverage over the Hutts and give an advantage to them when they would try to invade Hutt controlled space.

Sitting on the mountainside I looked down my scope, watching the same patrol go by again. For weeks I had been sitting out here, recording the patrols as they went by and what times they moved. This helped me find a guard that was by himself on one patrol and allowed me to figure out his situation. This guard, along with his fellow guards, were going to be replaced and soon by imperials, so he didn't put up much resistance to my offer.

Now I waited with my scope sighted in at the right distance. If the guard was right, the records keeper would be moving across the catwalk where I was aiming at; hopefully, my money didn't go to waste.

Soon it had been an hour since the allotted time that the prisoner was to be moved, and I was becoming impatient, so I started looking around the prison. My sights went around the prison, going from window to window, seeing prisoners that looked like they belonged there, except for one prisoner. In my sights sat a guy that was probably my age or younger looking out the window, and I could have sworn that he was looking down my scope. It was the boy that Ahsoka talked about so much, Lux Bonteri.

To tell you the truth I didn't hate the man, I just didn't see what Ahsoka saw in him. He was a snob, but she still talked about him the way that she did, which irritated me. Waving my scope back up I saw that the records keeper was walking across the catwalk to the other side of the prison.

With a calmed composure I slowly sucked in air, slowing my heartbeat down, and pulled the trigger. Down on the catwalk blood shot out of the keeper's head, but it wasn't what I thought it would. The species of people that the keeper comes from has orange blood and this was as crimson as the stuff in my veins. I panicked and looked around the prison to see if I had been played and came across Lux's window again. There was not a single soul inside that cell.

Focusing the scope back on the catwalks I saw the cloak that had been covering the face of the record keeper fly off and dropped my sniper rifle. From there I ran for my life because of the shame that I was feeling at the moment, that and imperial gunship that was stationed nearby was making its way towards the spot where I was.

After I had somehow managed to get back to the Dondervak I flew as fast as I could off-world and jumped out of the system.

Come to find out, it wasn't the Hutts that sent me the transmission in the first place, it was the empire. Their plan the whole time had been for me to kill someone who I thought was an important figure in the Hutt's criminal empire. It was actually Lux.

Of all the things in the galaxy that I wanted to happen was to see Ahsoka again, but now I would have to tell her that I murdered her friend in cold blood.

It would be two months later that I found out that Jabba didn't even contact me in the first place. I was contacted by an imperial inquisitor using a voice modulator to sound like Jabba the Hutt.

* * *

(**Theed, Capital City of Naboo**)

Once we had landed, and evaded nightly stormtrooper patrols, we came across a hole in the wall called Ungoi's Tavern. Inside there were mostly commoners with a Gungan here and there. It wasn't a complete dump, but there was this weird smell that I came across now and then.

Forgetting the previous distractions, I focused on the girl with the white hair that we were heading towards. She was sitting in the back of the joint, which meant that she didn't want to be seen and she sat in a booth with walls on each side, telling me that she might be expecting stromtroopers at any moment. As soon as we made it to the table we sat down in the circular seat, Nuru getting closer to her than the rest of us.

"Lalo, it has been a while." he said as they kissed on the spot.

Once they left the embrace Lalo hugged the man as hard as she could, revealing a ring on her hand.

"You two are married?" I asked.

"Yes," Lalo replied, "we have been for five months and counting" she grinned.

"So little lady, other than blue over here, why are we talking to you."

Reaching to a pouch at her side she pulled out a small disk with an old republic insignia and slid it to SEV. The commando recognized the disk from his past adventures and typed in a special encryption key that was used by the republic. Lights started glowing on the sides of the device and a small but identifiable hologram appeared before us.

"It took me many nights of going out with an officer to get this, so start taking notes." she Lalo to the rest of us. "This is the map of the bunker that General Skywalker captured during the Clone Wars. This map may be a little out of date, but from what I have gathered the insides of it have not changed much."

"So you are basically saying that this is old intel?" asked SEV.

"Yep." she replied.

"And there could be danger involved?" he asked again.

"Yep"

"Good, I like to stay on my toes."

And just as soon as we got there we were going to leave. Obediah was the first to get up amongst the five of us, then SEV, then me. That night it appeared that Lalo had more than a map of the bunker for us. She had also arranged for us to stay in a real swanky hotel that looked over the river.

Within an hour we had gone from the scum of the earth to a five star hotel. We all stayed on the same floor that was usually reserved for senators. There were three rooms that connected to a central living room. In one room you had me and Obediah, in the next you had SEV by himself, then in the last room you had Lalo with Nuru. Through the short time that I had been with Nuru he hadn't shown any sign of immaturity, not even now with his wife did he break his calm and collected shell. Once their door had closed SEV soon followed, then Obediah shut his door.

For the next thirty minutes I sat out in the center chamber just staring out at the skylines of Theed, just wondering what it was like before the empire. Then while drifting in those thoughts I started feeling drowsy. My head felt like a vase teetering on the edge of a table, though I knew that when I fell that I wouldn't break into a million pieces. That night I didn't even know when my head hit the pillow, but what happened afterwards made me wonder if I had taken something before I went to sleep.

I could tell that it was a dream but it all felt so real. I was seeing the sun rising on some world that I had never seen before. There were fields of grass that grew to my waist. A breeze rolled by and dragged different scents into my nostrils. One thing out of this experience caught my eye though. I looked far ahead of me and saw a figure standing in the distance. She stood just a little below my height and had lekku and montrals that looked kind of familiar to me. It was Ahsoka, and she was kneeling for some reason.

Slowly I walked over to her to see why she and I were here and saw someone else standing in front of her. He had black armor, a black cape, and a black helmet and mask that concealed his face. At his side he had a light saber and he summoned it into the palm of his hand. The blade came out and shined a dark red glow against the field around them. Knowing what was about to happen I ran over to her to save her but it was too late.

The dark figure then walked over to me and pointed the blade at my chest and said, "Your search for her will kill you in the end child. Give up and you may live"

"Never"

* * *

**To be continued...**


End file.
